Greg Marinos
Western History to 1660
Dr. Smith
2/12/15
Advancement in Western Europe
Progression, Enlightenment, and a sophisticated culture refinement are all factors that can portray the ideal civilized society. With all these factors in collaboration, we have a civilization, the highest form of human organization. In an organization, the living biotic creatures are given the ability to sustain and eventually assemble what they consider to be modern life. In ancient culture, prehistoric Mesopotamian and Egyptian cultures created what they believed to be a civilization. Through extensive use of resource and desire to evolve in humanity, both civilizations succeeded in leaving impact. However, Within Mesopotamian society, the long lasting impact of their inventions continues to provide a benefit to western civilization. Considering their advanced writing system, lunar calendar recordation, and revolutionary use of the wheel, Mesopotamia truly stood as a promising foundation for a lasting civilization.
One of the primary Mesopotamian inventions was in form of writing; this was called "Cuneiform." The Mesopotamian word “Cuneiform” translates to wedge shaped. The Sumerian writing system used several thousand characters and some for sounds (Kagan 8). Using writing initially for recording the dealing of items, writing was beneficial to the development of a system that portrayed a good understanding of fair transactions. Cuneiform was written
The Origins of the Modern World by Robert B. Marks is a book about the historical changes that have happened in the period of 1400-1850. He shows that how Asia is the center prior of the 1800s not the standard Eurocentric and it 's a polycentric world in term of the world trade. In the Origins, he focuses on the economic history where geographical on China, India, and England. In the beginning of the book he starts with a summary of "Rise of the West" where he say " the west as dynamic, forward looking, progressive, and free, and Asia as stagnating, backward, and despotic. After that he started building up or narrating the historical events in five-chapters based on an his vision of the world history, and he does it in a way that makes the reader agree with him to get the main key of the historical concept such as conjuncture. Also he takes about the most advanced societies across the Eurasian (China and England) and the two economic structures ( biological old regime and trading networks). He also takes the importance of the Indian ocean and he sees it as the "most important crossroads for global exchanges of goods, ideas, and culture" when Europe was " a peripheral, marginal player trying desperately to gain access to the sources of wealth generated in Asia. He brings a very good evidence that pictures the traditional China 's technological and Naval superiority, of the "well-developed market system" in Asia. Also he showed he superior quality of the Indian cottons and the
The author, Robert B. Marks introduces the book, The Origins of the Modern World by introducing the reader to a global narrative of the origins of the modern world starting from 1400 to the present. The book presents the rise of the west as an issue of globalization of Asia, Africa, and the New World. Throughout the book, we see the connection made by the author between the environmental condition and the present economic status of a particular place. By the end of the book, readers are able to understand and reason out what created and solidified a gap between the east and the west, industrialized and non-industrialized and parts of the world that today are defined as the modern world.
When you look back in history to the development and the contributions of both the Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations, you see that there was a lot accomplished, as well as a lot created. The earliest forms of writing developed in Mesopotamia, while Egypt was referred to the “Gift of the Nile” by traveler Herodotus (McKay,42). Development of cities was another major marker, especially in the “old world”, of how people eventually determined civilizations and what they represented. According to McKay, civilizations were determined by people who considered themselves more “civilized”, urban people mostly. Made up of cities, written rules of law, and social justice codes, Mesopotamia and Egypt would develop into two of the largest civilizations in history.
Mesopotamian Civilizations contributed massively to the development for future civilizations. To begin, the Sumerians created the first written language. Cuneiform was the writing system to keep track of business dealings when it comes to trading with the people who lived in lands that were thousands of miles away. Cuneiform also kept records and allowed new ideas to be passed from generation to generation (Doc 1). Cuneiform is developed from pictographs that were sideways and used
Mesopotamia’s first invention was a form of writing called cuneiform which was written on clay tablets with a sharp reed called a stylus. This permitted for recording events and
Mesopotamia developed a form of writing known as cuneiform. Their writing evolved from pictures into signs. Mesopotamians used writing mainly for record keeping. They would put business transactions into writing and had a written code of law. They also had literature like The Epic of Gilgamesh. The Epic of Gilgamesh is about one of the earliest passions of man, the search for eternal life. The Mesopotamians had a school for writing because they wanted trained scribes for
One of the most important inventions that the Sumerians were famous for was cuneiform. Cuneiform was a type of writing, and it was the first written language (Doc. 1). The Sumerians invented this writing system to keep track of records and business deals (Doc. 1). The way that the Sumerians wrote in cuneiform was by taking pieces of soft clay from the river and carving into it (OI).
The first form of writing was created by Sumerians 5,000 years ago called Cuneiform (Document 1). Sumerians used this writing system to keep track of business dealings because they traded with people who lived in lands that were hundreds and even thousands of miles away (Doc. 2). With a written language, ideas could be shared from generation to generation (Doc. 1). To write in cuneiform somebody would need to acquire a clay tablet, then bake it hard in a kiln (Doc. 1). If cuneiform had not been created, there may have not been written languages in the
One of the most important inventions was cuneiform. (Doc.1)It was created by the Sumerians over 5000 years ago (Doc.1). It was the world's first Language.(Doc.1) Sumerians invented this writing system to keep track of business dealings, records (Doc. 1) and religious activity (OI). It
Mesopotamia is credited for inventing the first written language and the first written laws. Sumerians in ancient Mesopotamia needed an efficient way to keep track of their business dealings with other people who lived thousands of miles away. The people often could not remember or agree upon what they had traded; this led to nasty disputes. As a result,the Sumerians created Cuneiform, the first written language. It was quickly accepted and widely used throughout Mesopotamia.
In Mesopotamia, people had no money so they traded barley, pottery, fish, and other foods and inventions they made. They needed a way to keep up with what they traded, so Sumerians created the first form of writing over 5000 years ago which they called Cuneiform. They used Cuneiform for business dealings such as trading barley, keeping records, and new ideas changed between different generations.
Through out the history of Western Civilization we have seen many important moments occur. From the Neolithic revolution, to humans conquering and spreading across the globe, there are many moments that have shaped its history and the present day. In this essay I will mention 5 of the most important moments/changes in Western Civilization and the reasons for why they are so important to societies in the western world and beyond.
Cuneiform is considered the most significant among the many cultural contributions of the Sumerians. Cuneiform writing is traced back from c. 3500 - 3000 BC. The writing wasn 't first actually words. They used pictographs for writing in their records. Instead of writing letters “s-u-n”, a Sumerian would imprint a pictograph of what they had as a sun on a clay tablet. Also,
Today we are convinced that modern, complex societies excel and surpass earlier civilizations. We believe that we live in a period of all around progress, a state that has a positive connotation to most people. During the transition to complex societies, having first arisen in southern Mesopotamia, humans’ relations to the environment and to other people greatly transformed. Although these changes that led to civilized societies had many gains, there were also many losses, which include: social class becoming more exaggerated, the value of kinship dwindling, and the environment being harmed. These are all downfalls to modern
Ancient Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt are two of the earliest and greatest civilizations to ever exist. They both show the transition from a Paleolithic society into a settled civilization. Nevertheless, Mesopotamia has been a worldwide centre of awe and amazement . The first written language created by the Sumerians of ancient Mesopotamia became the first means of of written communication for humankind.The spread of agriculture created a new way of life and evolved man from nomadic hunters into civilized people . Most important of all, the creation of the wheel opened up a new way for transportation to be carried out. Between both civilizations, it ancient Mesopotamia left the greatest impact on posterity.